Football

Honors Continue to Roll in for Coast Guard Football

Oct 03, 2013

NEW LONDON, Conn.-Coast Guard sophomores Joe Rizzardi and Tyler Henning have each been named a Corvias ECAC Player of the Week for the week ending September 29, 2013, as announced by the ECAC on Wednesday.

The honors continue to roll in for Rizzardi, a defensive back, as he was named ECAC Division III Northeast Regional Defensive Player of the Week after already being honored three other times this week. Henning, a punter/kicker, was honored as the ECAC Division III Northeast Regional Special Teams Player of the Week.

It's been quite the week for Rizzard, after being honored as the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston's Gold Helmet Award, New England Football Conference (NEFC) Player of the Week, and CGASPORTS.com Athlete of the Week already, he adds his fourth individual honor of the week.

Rizzardi was recognized for his performance in Coast Guard's 37-20 victory over Nichols in the New England Football Conference (NEFC) opener for both schools. The Ashburn, Va. native played an integral part in the victory, returning two interceptions for touchdowns (equaling a Coast Guard single season record) and recording six solo tackles on the afternoon.

During the first quarter of the contest he returned an interception 28 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears a 10-6 lead. With time winding down in the second quarter and the score tied at 13-13, Rizzardi returned his second interception, this time 30-yards, for a touchdown to break the tie and give Coast Guard a 20-13 lead heading into the halftime break.

The starting strong safety leads all NEFC defensive backs with 29 solo tackles and 39 total tackles on the season.

Henning had previously been named NEFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his outstanding work during the Bears' victory over Nichols last Saturday.

During the game, Henning was perfect on three field goal attempts, connecting from 33, 26, and 32 yards, respectively, while also making all four of his point after attempts. The Cyprus, Texas native also punted three times on the afternoon for an average of 42 yards per attempt, including a game-best 51-yarder near the end of the first quarter to pin Nichols at their own five yard line.

For the year, Henning is now a very solid 6-for-7 on field goal tries, including a career-long of 44 yards. He remains perfect on nine extra point attempts and has punted 28 times for an average of 35.4 yards per punt, pinning opponents inside their 20 six times and causing eight fair catches.

The sophomore duo are the first Coast Guard players to earn the award this season.

Coast Guard is scheduled to host Western New England on Saturday at 1:30 in a NEFC game as part of Celebrate New London Day at the Academy.

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